Squiffy’s local environment is really important to her: she’d much rather go hungry and spend the money saved on a decent hotel with a clean room, whereas I’d rather skimp on the hotel room and spend the extra on food and drink. (The more I travel the more I see that more money spent on hotels, does not necessarily translate to getting cleaner rooms.) Before she arrives with her Dad, I decided to see what a rock-bottom priced room is like, so I managed to score a room in Jodhpur for 150 Rs, about £1.80, a night.

I bet you’re wondering what a £1.80/night room gets you? Surprisingly, quite a lot actually — although it ain’t that pretty to look at. Two single beds pushed together to make a double; foreign hotels often don’t do ‘true’ double beds. Two plastic chairs. Even a TV; although you’ll note that it’s missing from my photos as the hotelier wanted to watch the cricket! The gaudiest decor and the most worrying lack of security. My room had three doors without decent bolts–one directly opened onto the street–so I’m really glad that I brought so many sturdy padlocks, wire ties and my trusty PacSafe.

At the price, I even got a bathroom! Although I’m rather glad Squiffs wasn’t here to see this… Two toilets: one stand-up, one sit down. The sit down one didn’t flush properly into the out-pipe and so mostly ran above-ground into the stand-up device. Lucky yes, pretty no. Two shower heads, both at bang-your-head height. A water boiler which refused to boil water. And curiously, no basin in which to wash your hands or brush your teeth. As is standard with Asian bathrooms, the whole bathroom was a ‘wet room’; you simply wash your hands under the shower and spit your toothpaste onto the floor, and the suds eventually find their way into a drain in the corner.

Bathroom, decor and grot aside, not a bad little space for the price.

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